the dragon mansion
by Tali Katzman
Summary: A story about two siblings who visit their grandfather during the summer.After hearing that a treaure is hidden in the old Mansion Sophie is determined to find it,with the help of her btoehr.They later discover that the treasure is guarded by dragons.


Chapter 1

"But you promised"

Ben said pleadingly to his mother. He couldn't believe that instead of going to baseball camp with his friends he and his sister will go visit their grandfather for the rest of the summer.

"I know, but I think it's for the best if you visit your grandfather, I mean he is not getting any younger".

Argued his mother. They were both standing on the front lawn of the house.

"What's so special about baseball camp anyway, all you do is chase around a ball all day",

Murmured a girl as she walked through the front door and onto the lawn, holding a leather bound diary in one hand and a blue ink pen in the other.

She paced towards the streets' pavement near a parked black car, it's garage door opened.

Both Ben and his Mom continued on with the conversation, ignoring the girl's remark.

"You promised!"-

Shouted Ben, his dark blue eyes flaring with rage and his brown hair waving in the breeze.

"Keep your voice down, do you want to neighbors to hear?",

His mother said in a hushed whisper, looking frantically around at the neighbor's windows to see if anyone was startled by the shout.

When she saw that no one heard them she sighed and put both hands on her son's broad shoulders, looking up at him.

"Sorry", he said while looking down at the lawn." But we agreed if I spent more time on school and got a B on my report card then I could go!".

"B+", corrected the girl, Ben's little sister Sophie, who was now sitting on the pavement, her legs neatly crossed under her flowery skirt. She had her diary opened on her knees and kept pulling down the sleeves of her light sweater over her hands.

Ben gazed angrily over at her direction.

"Ben, he hasn't seen you since the last time you visited, which was 2 years ago," His mom said, tying to make as many logical arguments as possible.

"Once in 2 years is plenty enough for me mom", he said with a small hint of cynical humor.

"Mom is right Ben, you have not visited grandpa in a long time", said Sophie while peeking from the top of her diary, trying to push her mom's argument.

"You stay out of this!" Ben said angry, and then started pacing through the lawn towards his little sister.

Before Sophia turned her gaze to her dairy she caught a glimpse of her Brother, who was hurrying towards her, with a very strong message reading on his expression: revenge.

Sophie as a response stood up while clutching to her pen in her palm and pressing diary tightly to her chest." MOM!"

Before Ben got to her his mother managed to catch him by the arm:" Don't talk to your little sister like that, it's none of her fault".

Ben calmed himself, though his expression didn't soften the slightest, his gaze fixed on Sophie's large doll like eyes and round pale face.

"The car is ready", said the driver after putting all the kid's luggage inside, and now starting the engine.

"Come on, you don't want to keep your grandpa waiting", mom said, pushing Ben by the shoulder towards the direction if the car.

Ben walked solemnly towards the car, this time ignoring his little sister and passing her by, purposely pushing her.

Sophie looked sternly at her brother who was already ahead of her. Only after she tidied up her hair, brushed off her skirt, and looked down at her white flats to make sure they didn't get dirty; she briskly walked towards the car.

They both went to the car, Ben in the lead. He opened the door and stepped inside the dark leather interior. All he could do was think about the argument's outcome and his sister not standing by his side.

Sophie got in shortly after, shutting the car door behind her. Though he was staring at the floor the frustrated look on Ben's face was very evident, so Sophie tried not to look at his direction.

The car's engine roared into life and the car slowly made her way away from the house. Ben turned to look outside the window, taking a last glimpse of his home which he won't see in the next two months.

Looking back he saw that his mother was still standing on the front lawn. As the car passed the house he could read on his mother's lips the word "Sorry", with a sympathetic look only a mother could master.

After they passed the house the ride through the town didn't take too long. Sophie was looked outside of the window, trying to catch the last few glimpses of the familiar buildings houses and people who were whizzing by.

The ride to grandpa's house was about 3 hours so the kids had a lot of time to think and reflect. Not soon after they left the town Ben put on his headphones and turned on the mp3 player he got as a Christmas present 3 years ago. To cut out all distraction and background noises he put the sound on high, but Sophie didn't protest.

She was still thinking about the argument .She felt sorry for Ben even though she did stand behind her mom's argument. She knew the real reason why Ben couldn't go to baseball camp and it wasn't because of the excuse mom told him.

The family was in deep financial problems .Sophie found out about it one day after her mom drove her home from school. Her mother must have forgotten to hide it but Sophie stumbled upon a letter that lied together with other papers on the living room table.

She read that mom and dad were in serious debt and if they didn't pay the bills until a specific date, their house would be taken. She could not really come around after that, though she did try to keep her discovery hidden from her parents and brother.

But the letter did effect her deeply, a few weeks after she found it she had to buy new ballet shoes because her pair was too small and worn out. She refused to buy new ones, saying that the shoes were fine and didn't bother her.

Her mother soon understood why her daughter was acting so strange, so she came up to her one day. "Sweetie don't worry, me and dad are going to sort this out soon and everything is going to be fine, don't worry your little head about it". But Sophie could see the doubt and fear in her mother's eyes when she said that. She knew things wont get better any time soon.

Sophie quickly tried to shake off the grim feeling, not wanting sadness and worry to fill her. To distract herself she took out some drawing pencils and started sketching in her diary, the scenery serving as her muse. Nearly half the ride went by like this, Ben listening to his music at full volume, his right leg twitching a sign for his agitation, while Sophie was sketching in her diary.

Soon she grew tired of the tension between her and Ben, for she could almost feel the air between them became more suffocating as time went by.

"Ben", Sophie said in a small voice, a bit scared to annoy her brother.

After she saw no response from him she cleared her throat, nudging her brother by the shoulder she repeated: "Ben, I need to talk to you about what happened."

This time Ben reluctantly shut his mp3, took out the earplugs, then looked at his sister with dark blue hooded eyes.

"What do you want", he said gruffly

"I'm sorry about what happened, with the baseball camp and all"

Her brother looked at her skeptically.

"You don't even like baseball, you think its rubbish"

His sister looked at him, giving a shy smile and shrugging.

"Just because I don't like baseball doesn't mean that what mom did was right"

Ben put out a small laugh

"You sided her this morning when I talked to her"

"Yeah I did, but you know mom, you are either on her side or no ones side", she gave a small smile, seeing that Ben wasn't as cross as she though.

"Yeah that's true, it's either mom's way or no other way ,even if you are the one who is right", he said with a bit of comical emphasis, then shaking his head thinking how useless the argument between them really was.

The conversation made Sophie feel much more at ease, now that the tension between them was gone. The rest of the ride passed somewhat the same after that.

Ben still kept listening to his mp3, though now not feeling the least bit angry with his little sister. Sophie was already asleep because if the long ride, her head leaning towards the. Outside around them the scenery changed from boring looking terrains of green grass ,with a few of farm animals popping every now and then into a richly filed view of green top hills full of huge ancient trees, and in the distance you could barely make out the sparkly blue ocean.


End file.
